Redemption
by rebelscum96
Summary: Palpatine is dead. Vader, now Anakin again, saved his son and returned to the light side, but he's gravely injured after the ordeal, so Luke takes him to Endor to tend to his wounds. Will Anakin join the rebels to fight the remnants of the Empire? Will Leia accept her heritage? Will Luke finally have the family he has always longed for?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I do not own Star Wars or its characters.**

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CHAPTER ONE

Darth Vader was no more.

Ever since he relinquished the Dark Side and his status as a Sith lord, the most feared member of the now falling Empire after the Emperor himself had become Anakin Skywalker - the son of Shmi, Padmé's husband, father of two (two!) - again. Yes. Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, the Hero With no Fear was back. And he was dying.

It was ironic how only at the end he understood the vile nature of the Dark Side of the Force. It had cost his wife's life before, and recently it had nearly cost him his son's life, and his daughter's, for that matter. The girl he had dreamed about back when Padmé was pregnant, whose identity remained undisclosed.

"_It turns out we were both right_." The thought made him smile internally, despite the pain. Padmé was sure the baby was a boy, whereas he was certain it was a girl. They had twins. Deep sadness ran in Anakin's veins when he realized he would never live to meet his daughter, or to get to know her. On the other hand, he was thankful that despite all of his wrongdoings, the Force blessed him enough to meet his son.

Luke. The name itself meant light, and Anakin couldn't think of a more appropriate name for the boy. He should stop thinking of him as a kid, though, Anakin realized. Luke was 23 years old, a war hero and an outstanding Jedi knight. He had missed his children's whole childhood and teenage years. They were now fully grown young adults and did not really need him for anything. No one needed him, and it was all his fault.

_"Ani, you're going down a path I can't follow." _He remembered what his wife had told him that dreadful day on Mustafar. Padmé tried to warn him about the Chancellor's evils and he force choked her in return. If only he had listened to her and Obi-Wan, if he had believed what they said about Palpatine back then... he would have fulfilled the prophecy much sooner and would have gotten to have a happy family. Most importantly, he wouldn't have deprived his kids of a childhood with two loving parents, and would have let the woman he loved be a mother and see her children grow up.

As Luke hastily, albeit carefully, dragged his father through the second Death Star's sterile corridors, he could feel the deep sadness in his father's waning force signature. "Just hang in there, father.", he told the former Sith lord in desperation. He had just gotten his father back, he couldn't lose him again. Anakin could barely speak, or breathe, for that matter - the smell of smoke coming from the destruction of the battle station made his condition worse - but tried to send his son comforting feelings through the Force anyway. When they reached the main hangar to look for usable starfighters, Luke laid his father down for a moment. The Jedi knight was exhausted and hurt from all the force lightning Palpatine shot at him. His whole body was a huge bag of pain and he was sure that if he didn't have the Force as an ally powering him up, he would've been dead by now, considering the magnitude of the whole ordeal he had gone through that night. Not everyone could survive that much force lighting.

The injured Anakin Skywalker used the last of his strength to speak. "Luke, help me take this mask off."

An indignant look crossed Luke's face. "But you'll die.", the young Jedi protested. He knew his father needed the suit to survive. Even damaged by the force lightning, it could still help him breathe.

"Nothing can stop that now.", Anakin wheezed, the sound of his respirator louder than ever. "Just for once... let me look on you with my own eyes."

Carefully and hesitantly, Luke removed his father's mask, the black accessory that instilled fear in whoever took a glimpse of it. He was shocked at the sight. The man who once was the most intimidating enemy they had ever faced looked frail and painfully ill. His face was deathly pale and had scars all over. Beneath the scars there was a pair of blue eyes, much alike his own. Those gleaming eyes looked at him lovingly. Luke was not able to keep his emotions contained, and shed a tear for his dying father, with whom he had just reconciled.

Anakin smiled. His son was almost a carbon copy of himself, from the sky blue eyes to the sandy blonde hair. It was like Luke was the Jedi he should have been. The older Skywalker never regretted sacrificing himself to save his son, but now that he looked directly at the young man's face and felt the sheer love he emanated, he was certain he would gladly kill himself over and over again just to make sure Luke was safe.

"Now... go, my son. Leave me." Anakin muttered weakly. His voice was barely louder than a whisper and every breath he took hurt, but he needed his son to leave as quickly as possible. It was a matter of minutes before the station collapsed. Luke looked outraged at the idea.

"No! You're coming with me. I can't leave you here. I've got to save you." _I just got you back, I won't lose you again_, he thought.

Anakin sighed. His son was not making it any easier. He understood Luke wanted him to live, to make up for the twenty-three years he had been absent, but there was nothing the boy could do to prevent his death. Besides, Luke had already given him the best gift of all: redemption.

Looking intently at the young man's eyes, he muttered with difficulty, "You already have, Luke. You were right about me." His son had indeed been right all along. There _was _still good in him. It was a shame neither Luke nor his sister would ever get to properly see it. _Luke's sister. _Anakin's thoughts drift again to the daughter he never met. "Tell your sister..." - he pauses, out of breath - "you were right." With those last words, Anakin closed his eyes and let out a shaky, dying breath.

Luke's eyes were full of despair as he looked at his father's frail form. The young jedi searched for the elder Skywalker's force signature, and found a waning, but subsisting presence.

"Father, I won't leave you." _This isn't fair - _Luke thought - _everyone grows up with a father, and now that I finally get to know mine, he's about to die. _The young Skywalker decided he was not going to let the worst happen. He took a quick look around the room to search for usable starfighters, but a desperate crowd of fleeing stormtroopers and imperial officers was making it difficult for him to see anything. A huge explosion rocked the docking bay, making Luke rise and drag his father through the hangar until he stumbled upon a shuttle. He swiftly made his way into the fighter and placed his father in it. After starting the engine, he took off into the vastness of space, headed for the moon of Endor. Not five minutes later, what was left of the second Death Star was blown up into nothing, and Luke smiled as he saw the Millennium Falcon soar, victorious. Even though his worries about Anakin weren't leaving his mind anytime soon, he couldn't help but feel relieved. _I can't believe this is finally over_, he thought.

* * *

I_ can't believe this is finally over. _Princess Leia Organa, general of the Rebel Alliance, thought, as she watched the explosion happen in the sky. It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her only worry now was her brother. She just hoped he had gotten out of that dreadful place in time. She had lost so many people already, and to lose her brother a day after they had found out about their kinship would destroy her. Besides, Luke was a good person, and he did not deserve to die like that.

Han seemed to share her worries. No matter how tough, careless and coldhearted the smuggler tried to act, Leia knew the Corellian was a ball of warmth - a caring friend and loyal partner deep inside. "I'm sure Luke wasn't on that thing when it blew.", he said, looking down from the sky to the Princess.

Leia remembered what Luke had told her earlier, when she mentioned she could neither understand nor have his powers. _You're wrong, Leia. You have that power too. In time, you'll learn to use it as I have. _Her brother believed so much in her, enough to be sure she could be everything he was. _Maybe I can try to feel him through the Force. We have done that before. _She recalled all the times she could sense Luke's emotions and his very presence. She had always called that intuition, but now she knew better. She tried to search for her brother in the Force, keeping her eyes fixated on the sky, right where the explosion had taken place. Slowly but surely, she starts feeling connected with her environment and all beings around her. Suddenly, she could feel _everything. _She could sense every human, alien or wild animal, the water, the rocks, everything emitted a signal, and although it was quite disorienting at first, she quickly got used to it and concentrated on Luke. Her brother was not hard to find, as his force signature was already familiar to Leia, even though she had never noticed it before. His presence was a beacon of light in the Force and it made her feel warm and complete. She smiled.

"He wasn't. I can feel it." The Princess replied to her lover, who frowned.

Han had always felt like he was getting between the Princess and the farm boy, but Leia kept coming back to him, so he had assumed she had sorted her feelings out. However, on the night before, he had seen her hugging Luke very intimately, which made his insecurities return.

"You love him. Don't you?" Han asked bitterly.

A puzzled Leia answered him with a simple "yes", like that was the most obvious fact in the universe.

Han decided he would not be the one to keep two of his best friends from being together. Besides, Luke was a perfect match for Leia. They were both innate heroes, and he was a scoundrel, as the Princess had previously put out.

"Alright. I understand. Fine. When he comes back, I won't get in the way." The smuggler said. Leia briefly wondered why in the universe Han would think he would be in the way of two siblings, until she realized she had not told him about her connection with Luke yet. With an exasperated laugh, she answered him.

"No. It's not like that at all" - Han frowned at that. - "He's my brother."

Han was suddenly consumed by a mix of relief, confusion and clarity. It made sense that two people as extraordinary as Luke and Leia would be related, and had the situation been different, he was sure he wouldn't stand a chance against the kid. However, as he delightedly kissed the smiling Princess, he couldn't help but remember that one time on Hoth when she made out with Luke to provoke him. He sincerely hoped they did not know about their kinship back then, otherwise the siblings were into some very disturbing practices. As the shock wore off, he could relax more into Leia's lips. An ewok warrior appeared behind them, celebrating their triumph and breaking their kiss, as Leia gazed into Han's eyes and grinned, making him smile back at her and ruffle the ewok's fluffy head.

Han knew Luke and Leia could not have known they were siblings since the beginning. After he, Luke, Chewie and the old man Kenobi - Rest In Peace - rescued the princess aboard the Death Star four years ago they all spent time getting to know each other, and Han even picked on Luke because he noticed the kid was infatuated with the princess. Unable to keep the question to himself, Han decided to ask.

"Since when have you known about this?"

"Since last night. Luke told me before he went to the new Death Star to confront Vader." Leia answered, her happy disposition quickly deteriorating after the mention of Vader. She knew she would eventually have to tell the man she loved about her biological father, but the princess was worried he would never want to look at her again after he found out the truth. Vader's name was enough to cause revulsion in anyone that heard it, and his evil deeds to the galaxy in the name of the Empire could never be erased.

"Why did Luke have to go confront that piece of poodoo on the first place? Vader would have died from the explosion anyway." Han came to the conclusion that the reason Leia was so miserable last night was because she thought Luke would die from the confrontation. To be honest, had he known what that crazy kid was about to do, he would also have thought that.

"Vader could feel Luke's presence on this moon. Luke thought he would be jeopardizing our mission if he stayed here." Leia said nervously, still mustering up the courage to tell Han the truth.

The smuggler was confused. How could Vader sense Luke of all people? Why was the kid so important to him? He couldn't help but ask.

"But why did Vader sense Luke? Why was he so interested in him? Does it have to do with the force thing? Can people who have the force sense other people like them?" He truly felt stupid, and nothing could have prepared him for Leia's next words.

Leia knew she couldn't avoid the truth any longer. If she postponed it, it would be bad for everyone.

"He's Luke's- our biological father." Leia said as she trembled. Never in her life she had felt so disgusted of herself. She was literal sithspawn, child of an evil man whose full time job was terrorizing the galaxy.

The princess fitted Han as he took in the information. The pilot was at a loss for words. How could something so vile be responsible for the existence of not one, but two of the most incredible people he had ever met in his not-so-short lifetime? However, Leia interpreted the look on his face as an expression of rejection.

"Han, I really am sorry that you have been caught up in the craziness that is my life. I understand if you don't want to be with me any longer, I mean, I would be second guessing if I were you-" Han didn't let her finish the sentence. He caught her lips in a reassuring kiss that almost undid her. It was Leia's turn to be consumed by relief. He really did love her after all. She felt like a teenager again, insecure about her lover, even though she knew that was utterly foolish.

"Hey, you kissed your own brother and I didn't leave you. What is being Vader's daughter in comparison?" The smuggler joked, giving her one of his crooked smiles. He laughed out loud as he watched Leia's face turn bright red.

"Can we please never mention that again?" The princess said, covering her face with her hands. If there was one thing she could take back...

"Hey, relax, you didn't know." Han said soothingly.

"Still... that's something to cringe about for the rest of my life" Leia answered. That kiss at Hoth's med bay wasn't even the only one she had shared with her brother. Talk about an ick factor.

"Well, at least I know you won't be opposed to calling him whenever we want to spice things up a bit- if you know what I mean." Han jested, smirking.

Leia's eyes went as wide as saucers. She playfully hit Han's shoulder, her face still as red as Mustafar. Han started laughing again, and this time, Leia giggled along with him.

They would be just fine.

* * *

_You will be just fine. Hang on, I'm going to save you. _Luke thought to his father as he prepared to land on Endor. He could feel Vader- no, Anakin's force signature getting weaker by the minute, and he really didn't know what to do. Endor didn't have a rebel base and he doubted they would want to care for Vader aboard the Home One. If he could find a way to access a med bay without anyone seeing him...

The young Jedi suddenly had an idea. He commed his sister, who quickly answered the holo call.

"Luke! Nice to see you alive and well!" She said, smiling brightly.

"Hey, Leia! I need a favor. Can you contact the Home One and request a detachable intensive care med bay?" He went straight to the point. Leia's face quickly became inquisitive.

"Why? We have already requested one. There's more than enough space for additional people." She asked, frowning. Luke trusted his sister with his life, but he knew he couldn't tell her the truth, she just wouldn't understand. Leia had openly hated Vader for as long as she could remember, and it just got worse after he tortured her for hours. made her watch the destruction of her home planet and froze her lover in carbonite, among other things. Luke really couldn't blame her, but he hoped she would eventually come around. She deserved to know the man Anakin Skywalker had been before he was corrupted by the Dark Side of the Force.

"I know, but the guy I'm taking needs to be separated from the others. He has been heavily burned and could easily get an infection if he's too exposed to other people's germs." Luke tried, thankful they weren't talking in person. Even unaware of her Force abilities, Leia had always been very connected to it, he realized. She'd always had a strong intuition and was often quick to sense whenever something was wrong. He was sure she would have sensed his lie had he been by her side at that moment.

"Who is he? Is he a rebel? He can't be... you were the only one of us who went inside the Death Star." Leia inquired. There was nobody in the galaxy who she trusted more than Luke, strangely, he had always made her feel at home. That's why finding out he was her brother wasn't a shock to her at all. Still, she couldn't help but sense something was off, even through the blue holo image of her sibling flickering off her comlink.

"He's..." Luke knew he couldn't tell Leia a complete lie. Besides shattering her trust in him, she would never believe it in the first place. "He's an Imperial Soldier, he realized that what the Empire was doing was wrong and actually helped me in the Death Star, but got injured in the process. Imperials really have no mercy... even on their own." It wasn't a lie. Like Obi-Wan once said, it was the truth, from a certain point of view. Luke snickered internally at the thought.

Leia looked skeptical for a moment, but complied. "Alright. I trust your judgment. I'll contact Admiral Ackbar right away. Just be safe and don't do anything stupid."

Luke scoffed. "When have I _ever _done anything stupid?" He asked, pretending to be offended.

Snorting, Leia answered, "when have you ever _not_?"

Han's face appeared on the holo, squishing Leia's right cheek. "Aww, look at you two, already bickering like siblings." The smuggler joked.

"You know?" Luke didn't even know why he was surprised.

"Of course I do. I'm part of the family too, aren't I?" Han added, winking.

"I guess you are. Don't let it get to your head, though." Luke felt so lucky to have found such great friends, friends who became figurative, and in Leia's case, literal family. Who could have imagined something as terrible as a war, known for destroying families, would reunite his own.

Han laughed at the young Jedi's statement. He loved his friend to death as well, but would never admit it. _Gotta keep the calm, collected Corellian attitude_, he thought with a smirk.

"I have to turn the comlink off. I'll see you soon. Thanks, Leia!" Luke quickly said. He had to prepare the shuttle to enter Endor's atmosphere. While talking to his friends, he briefly forgot about his dying father inside the ship with him. Fearful, he checked the force again for Anakin's signature. The former Sith Lord hadn't moved or made a sound the whole time they were in the spacecraft, and it took Luke a while to find it. It was faint, but is was there nonetheless. Sighing in relief, he entered the forest moon's atmosphere and set the shuttle's controls to land, hoping that nobody on Endor noticed the giant man clad in black shining armor he carried with him.

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**A/N: So... Should I continue? This chapter reimagined a lot of existing scenes, I know, but I needed to set up the context for what's coming ahead. I have great plans for this story! Please review so I can know what you guys think of the story or if it's any good at all. Thanks for reading, until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all for the following/favoriting/reviewing! Here's chapter 2. I will post the next one as soon as possible, stay tuned!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or its characters. All rights belong to Disney and Lucasfilm. I only own this plot.**

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CHAPTER 2

The fact that an imperial had decided he was on the wrong side moments before the explosion of the new battle station seemed too convenient to Leia, and she knew Luke had always been too trusting of others, even as a jedi. As she requested the med bay, the princess could not shake the feeling that something was off. Her intuition had always been very strong, and now that she was aware it was due to her force sensitivity (though she felt like she would never get used to it), she knew ignoring it was a bad idea. Still, she was so tired and eager to celebrate the fall of Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the second Death Star, she decided to put her worries aside for a moment. She would talk to Luke later.

Suspicious as she was, Leia knew they would probably take the stranger in. The Rebellion was not like their enemy. They accepted everyone who came to them with good intentions, and the person Luke was aiding wouldn't be the first deserter of the Empire they took under their wings. Formerly a legion of clones who were not killed during the Clone Wars, most Stormtroopers were lower class soldiers who were often physically assaulted by their superiors as a form of correction, and could be killed by a grumpy general whenever things went wrong in a mission, so it was not surprising that many of them just wanted out. Besides, although the rebellion now had the advantage on the fight against the Empire, the war was far from over. They still had to make sure all remaining imperial cells were dissolved and make the galaxy a safe place to build a new democratic government from scratch.

The new med bay arrived before her brother did, and after checking if the facility was correctly placed and fully operational, Leia took off to the clearing in the dense forest where the rebels were having a party with the Ewoks. Wedge Antilles had managed to bring Corellian brandy, and she would not miss the opportunity to drink it. _The nerf herder is starting to rub off on me_, she thought with a smirk as Han slipped into her mind. The smuggler, like Wedge, was from Corellia, and he would always carry bottles of the planet's famous beverage around with him. _Space freighters and brandy are the only things that save Corellia from being a complete piece of poodoo, he would always say_. Her lover never hid how much he disliked his homeworld. She couldn't blame him. Han had mentioned how his father, a worker in the Corellian Engineering Corporation shipyards, dreamt of leaving the planet on one of the YT-1300 vessels he used to build, and the smuggler longed for the same thing, even after his father abandoned him and died, making him work as a scrumrat for the White Worms gang.

Leia briefly thanked the Force for her fortune. Yes, her biological family was deranged to say the least, but she was lucky enough to be adopted by great parents and raised with the utmost love and care. She wondered where she would have been, had Vader kept her after her mother died. That brought up the question in the princess' head - did Vader even know he had children? Had he known she was his biological offspring when he tortured her in cold blood until she screamed? Were she and Luke by-products of violence? Had Vader attacked their biological mother? That would be low even for someone as foul as him, but even if she didn't know how, Leia remembered her mother as a very sad young woman, so the circumstances of her and Luke's birth couldn't have been the greatest. While she approached the clearing where her friends were already feasting and dancing around a bonfire to some native Ewok song, the Princess sensed her sibling landing on the moon, and along with her brother's presence, she also felt a familiar chill, which she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Leia found Han and Wedge amidst the other rebels, and as she stole the smuggler's cup of Corellian brandy, she thought, _I hope Luke isn't doing anything stupid._

* * *

_I hope I'm not doing anything stupid_, Luke thought as he landed on Endor. Taking Darth Vader, an imperial symbol of terror, to a moon full of rebels was risky to say the least. He could be deemed as a traitor, compromise his sister's reputation, and the other members of the Alliance could finish his father off. However, the young Jedi could not think of a place in the Galaxy where Anakin would receive proper medical care without anybody asking questions, or worse, attacking them. The Home One's detachable med bays were run by 2-1B medical droids, so nobody would see Vader in his armor. After making sure there wasn't anyone nearby, Luke tried to move his father without jostling him too much. He wished he had R2 to help him at that moment, Anakin seemed like he weighed a ton in that suit.

The young Jedi was relieved when he managed to leave the shuttle, happily breathing the fresh forest air of Endor. Having come from a desert planet, any contact with nature Luke had was a blessing to him. No words could explain how much he disliked Tatooine and its endless sea of sand. Luke hated sand. It tended to damage devices, injure eyes and just be overall unpleasant. He wondered where he would have been raised, had Anakin never turned to the dark side. Luke realized neither Ben nor Yoda had ever told him where his father came from. _They didn't want you to get attached to him because you were supposed to kill him_, a small voice said in his head. Luke was suddenly consumed by rage. Obi-Wan and Yoda wanted him to kill his own father. So much for harmony and serenity. For an order of keepers of peace, they sure were murderous. The young jedi quickly realized the path he was taking with those thoughts. _Rage leads to the dark side. Do you want to be like your father?_ The rational part of him, the one he should have been listening to since the beginning, spoke. Yoda and Obi-Wan had their own reasons to believe Vader couldn't be redeemed. _Maybe that's what made the old Jedi fall, the lack of hope_, he thought. _Rebellions are built on hope_. That phrase was spoken by no one other than Jyn Erso, a fellow rebel he didn't have the chance to meet, for she died on her successful mission to steal the plans for the Death Star, but he admired her deeply. Luke even named his starfighter squadron, the Rogue Squadron, after her team, the famous and heroic Rogue One. His sister also believed hope was the key. She always told him "hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you see it, you'll never make it through the night." She was right. It was hope that made the alliance win, and it was hope that brought Anakin back from the dark side.

And hope would make his father get better.

With newfound enthusiasm, Luke carried the elder Skywalker through the moon's deep vegetation, being careful not to be seen by anyone, rebel or native, as he searched for the med bay Leia had dispatched. Anakin's condition hadn't gotten any better. His breaths were sparse and shallow, and he would mumble incoherently from time to time. After what seemed like hours to Luke, even though it was just a few minutes, a white object that looked like a large escape pod could be seen. Luke quickened his pace as he trudged through the muddy soil, and entered the facility. The Home One's removable med bays were equipped with the necessary devices for medical emergencies, despite their small size. They could hold up to four patients at a time and were run entirely by droids.

A 2-1B unit approached Luke, who was still holding Anakin on his arms.

"Good evening, Sir. How can I be of service today?" The droid mechanically asked.

"Please, help him. I don't know the full extent of his injuries yet, but it's bad. Do whatever you can to save him, please." Luke pleaded desperately, as he panted. He knew that as a Jedi Knight he should have been able to keep his emotions in check, but that was not the time for dogmas. Anakin's condition was critical.

"Please lay him down on this bed." The droid said, gesturing towards a sterile hospital bed a few feet away from Luke, who gladly did as he was told, breathing a sigh of relief as he got rid of the weight of his father's armor. His relief was short lived, though, for not two minutes later the droid, having finished his father's body scan, let him in on his father's condition.

"Excuse me, Sir. How do you know this man?" The unit inquired.

"He's... a friend." Luke answered carefully. He didn't want to expose the nature of his relationship with Anakin just yet. "Well," the droid started, "I'm afraid your friend's condition is rather dire. He has most definitely sustained a lot of injuries through the years. Apparently, at some point in his life he was severely burned, and the wounds weren't properly healed. His lungs are also gravely damaged, which probably isn't new, because he was already using a respirator before this whole ordeal. Besides that, all of his limbs have been severed." Luke was overwhelmed. How miserable has his father's life been for all these years? Did the Emperor do all of that to him? Blind hatred coursed through his veins for the second time since he landed on the moon. He wished he could resurrect Palpatine just so he could kill him, slowly this time. Again, Luke stopped himself on his tracks. _Father's own hatred has brought this on him. Palpatine manipulated him and he has already paid for that_. Luke remembered how disgusted he felt of himself when the Emperor praised him as he attacked his father, blinded by his own rage. He didn't feel hatred for Palpatine back then. He just wanted to be as different from him as he could, and the very thought of doing something that would please the Sith Lord made his stomach churn. That was when he had decided he would rather die than turn into his own father, who was strong, but cruel, submissive and clearly unhappy, a hollow shell of a man.

Luke opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the 2-1B droid. "Those were his old injuries. His newer ones are quite bad as well. He has apparently been shocked, and besides damaging his life support, the electric current also burned his body even further, and gave him serious arrhythmia." The unit finished. Luke was confused. It's not like there was a medical school on Tatooine.

"What does that mean?" He asked, a bit annoyed at the droids technical vocabulary.

"It means your friend's heart rate is unstable, and that condition is potentially fatal." The droid answered. Luke was crestfallen. Had he come all that way just to have his hopes shattered and watch his father die?

"Is there any chance he could survive?" The Jedi asked sadly, and not even the droid was able to not feel sympathy for him.

"We can try a few options, but since the patient is unconscious, you need to give us your authorization." The unit said, giving him a holopad to sign.

"Do whatever you can." Luke said, signing the authorization. _Please save my father_, he thought.

"Very well. We'll try to stabilize him now. I suggest that you rest for a while. You too look like you have been through a lot." The droid said, and then pointed at Anakin. "Since he is the only patient here, feel free to use another one of the beds of this facility."

Luke didn't know if it was the force of just sheer adrenaline that gave him strength to stay up and alert enough to carry his father's heavy form through the forest and take the necessary actions to save him. As the 2-1B unit tended to his father's wounds, the young Jedi started to realize how exhausted he truly was. Although it wasn't debilitating, Palpatine's force lightning took a toll on his body. Exhaling, Luke sit down on a bed beside the one Anakin lay on, and decided to rest for a few minutes. He had a celebration to go to, after all, and there was nothing he could do for Anakin besides letting the droid work on him.

* * *

"Aren't you two going to eat anything?" Lando asked Leia and Han. He had some kind of skewered meat snack on a plate, one of the delicacies prepared by the ewoks. Having arrived on the moon several hours earlier than her fellow rebel, Leia knew by then what kind of meat the ewoks were probably barbecuing, since the natives had tried to eat Luke, Han and Chewie. She exchanged a quick glance with her lover, who gave her one of his sly smirks. "Well, considering that what you're currently feasting on is stormtrooper beef, I'll pass." She said, snickering. Han could not miss the opportunity to add insult to injury. "Yeah, I'm not big on cannibalism either."

Lando looked horrified. He glanced at the plate on his hand and placed it on a nearby tree stump, grimacing. "Well, it's true what they say. Ignorance really is bliss", the smuggler said as he left to greet Wedge Antilles, making the couple chuckle loudly.

Han looked at Leia. "Where's Luke? He should be here by now." The Princess also worried for her brother. He sounded fine when he commed her earlier, but he could have been lying to keep her from worrying. She also did not know whether the former imperial's intentions were genuine. He may as well have taken advantage of Luke's physical condition to hurt him, after all, the remnants of the Empire would be seeking revenge and trying to keep the dictatorship alive. Her worries were quelled when Luke appeared in the clearing, looking a little tired, but fine nevertheless. She smiled broadly as she ran to her brother, hugging him for what seemed to be the first time in decades. She had been so scared of losing him, Luke felt like a part of her she never knew was missing. She let him go so he could hug Han and their other friends, but he was quick to return to her.

"I'm so glad you are okay", Leia told her brother. Luke scratched the back of his head and waved dismissively. "You know I'm not defeated that easily." The princess rolled her eyes at that. She knew Luke thought he was going to die by the hands of the Emperor.

"Hey, what's important is that Emperor Wrinkleface is dead now. We won't have to deal with that sithspit ever again." Han joined the conversation. "Let's focus on what really matters right now: these bottles of Corellian brandy aren't going to drink themselves." The smuggler finished with a smile. Luke smiled, but Leia noticed his mind was elsewhere. When Han turned around to open the bottles, she whispered to her brother, "what's wrong?" The princess could barely hear herself over the sound of the Ewoks' music.

Luke seemed pensive, like he was considering whether he'd tell her what concerned him or not.

"I'll tell you later." When Leia opened her mouth to protest, he added "so we can speak in private".

_It can't be something urgent_, Leia thought, _otherwise he would have told me by now_.

But Leia was too curious, and she just knew whatever was bothering Luke had to do with the former imperial he had brought to the moon. "Well, we can go somewhere private _now_ and discuss that." She pressed, but Han heard her and spoke before her brother could answer.

"Why don't we focus on having fun for a change? We just won a decisive battle on this war, for Force's sake."

"Han's right you know", Luke said, lighting up. "It really can wait."

"See? The kid knows the voice of reason when he hears it." Han joked, making Leia roll her eyes, snorting.

"Okay, hotshot. Give me that bottle." She said, winking at the smuggler, as he handed her the brandy.

"I want some too", Luke said. Han feigned shock. "You're not drinking milk this time? It's really the end of the Galaxy as we know it, the galaxy is upside down." The smuggler earned a giggle from Leia, who passed the bottle to her brother.

Luke sighed internally as he drank the brandy. Leia was more attuned to his feelings than he thought, it was the second time in less than three days she had noticed his uneasiness, first about telling her the truth about their kinship, now, about Anakin. Luke would tell her about him the next day. He did not want to spoil his sister's night with more drama, or his own for that matter.

Soon, more rebels and Ewoks joined the group and all worries about the person in the med bay a few miles from there laid forgotten as they happily celebrated a much needed victory that would change everything for them and for the galaxy as a whole.

After the party was over, Luke returned to the isolated facility in the middle of the dense forest of Endor where his father lay on a bed, hooked up to several monitors and tubes, fighting for his life. As the young Jedi sat on the bed beside Anakin's, he wondered if the elder Skywalker would actually be thankful for not being left for dead. Anakin had a grueling recovery ahead of him and he would have to face the consequences of his actions as Darth Vader - that included not only having to hide his identity from the whole galaxy, but also dealing with the guilt of having done such terrible deeds. As he made himself comfortable, Luke noticed how exhausted he was, yet the thoughts about his father and the future overwhelmed him enough to keep him awake. Closing his eyes, he tried to force himself to sleep, knowing he had a lot to do the following morning.

* * *

_Leia was lost, which was weird and unusual. She had always been very proud of her pathfinding skills, having taken Chief Pangie's course when she was sixteen, which seemed like forever ago even though not even ten years had passed since her first class. Besides, she knew this place. It was Endor, more specifically the part where the shield generator for the second Death Star was located. Leia knew the place like the back of her hand by now, so she could not understand why the place where the rebel accomodations were set up was just a big clearing in the dense forest of the moon. The princess tried to look for someone, anyone, that could help her but the place seemed completely empty. There was no sign of sentients anywhere, not even Ewoks. Frowning, she wondered what could possibly have happened to make everybody evacuate the moon. Why couldn't she remember anything? And why was she left behind? Luke, Han and Chewie would never do that to her. She looked around, squinting, searching for any sign of life. For a short moment, she thought she had really been left alone on Endor, but that presumption died as soon as it came, when her eyes met the sight of the detachable med bay she had requested for Luke earlier. Leia ran towards it, trembling with relief when she reached its entrance. However, the feeling was short-lived. As soon as the door opened, a dark void appeared and she was sucked into it so quickly she didn't even have time to scream in horror._

With a jolt, Leia woke up to see she was inside one of the rebels' accomodations. She looked to her left and saw a sleeping Han, snoring beside her. Sighing in relief, she tried to comprehend the nightmare she just had. The dream seemed to lead her to the med bay where Luke probably was at that moment. She tried to search for her brother in the Force, just like she had done before when the Death Star exploded. It did not take long for her to sense his presence, but there was an interference she had never felt before, and the more she focused on it, the more familiar it felt. Was that the former Imperial her brother had saved? She decided she would not stay there and do nothing. That nightmare had to mean something. Not even bothering to change her clothes, she took off to the med bay in her nitghtgown, breathing in the fresh forest air as she panted.

The minute she arrived in the facility, she could focus on the presence more clearly, and recognized it. Leia hadn't known at the time, but she had felt it before. That was when it clicked to her. A former imperial. He was hurt. Luke requested another med bay so no rebel could see him, and had been hesitant to talk about it with her back at the party. Feeling utterly revulsed, Leia opened the door and her suspicions were confirmed.

Inside the med bay was Luke, looking tired, but very much awake, especially now that he looked at her as if she was a ghost. Beside her brother was the presence that had given her chills more than once before, and that moment was no different. Lying on a bed connected to many life support machines was none other than Darth Vader, out of his famous armor, which lay on a table next to him.

Consumed by shock, all Leia could do was mutter, "Luke?"


End file.
